Sex sells—it’s not merely a marketing slogan. Sex not only helps advertisers sell a product—in today’s market sex is a product.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18. This crime has been called the human rights issue of the 21st century.
Like all economic crimes, this one is driven by supply and demand. On the supply side, pimps and human traffickers coerce or kidnap women and children into some sort of sex business (prostitution, the making of pornography, “massage parlors,” stripping, live-sex shows, mail-order brides, military prostitution, sex tourism, etc.). On the demand side, men are driven by lust to seek out commercial sex.
The question is: What drives this demand?
While this is a multi-layered problem, there is no doubt that pornography plays a significant role why people buy sex.
All this week on Breaking Free we will be exploring the intersection between pornography and modern day sex trafficking. To help us explore this difficult subject my friends at pureHOPE have helped me put together a fantastic lineup of podcasts, articles, videos, and interesting links.
pureHOPE has started an initiative, pureJUSTICE, to call the church to a lifestyle of justice, speaking out against commercial sexual exploitation. pureJUSTICE calls men and women to a life of personal sexual integrity and communal accountability.
Stay tuned all this week to learn more.